ed by the other men. "The drunken bastes, it was there I left
them barely two hours ago, while I jist turned in to get a quiet snooze.
They are not there now, your honour," he observed, with a twinkle in
his eye; "they must have gone out unbeknown to me. It is mighty
surprising!"

"Why, you impudent rascal, you have been asleep for the last twelve
hours," said the lieutenant, scarcely able to restrain his gravity.
"Take care that this does not happen again; keep sober while you remain
here."

"Sure, your honour, I would not touch a dhrop of the cratur, even if
they were to try and pour it down me throat," he answered. "But I found
a countryman of mine living here. It is a hard matter, when one meets a
boy from Old Ireland, to refuse jist a sip of the potheen for the sake
of gintility!"

"Follow me to the house as soon as you have put yourself into decent
order," said the lieutenant, not wishing to exchange further words with
the trooper.

Pat touched his hat, to signify that he would obey the order, and the
lieutenant and I walked on.

"I cannot put that fellow under arrest, seeing that I have no one to
whom I can give him in charge," said the lieutenant, laughing. "But
what can have become of the others? I do not think, notwithstanding
what Sergeant Custis said, that they can have deserted. They would
scarcely make an attempt to get over this wild country alone, and on
foot."

As soon as Pat made his appearance, the lieutenant ordered him to stand
on guard at the door, where he kept him until nightfall.

When our men came in, I inquired whether they knew anything of the
troopers. They one and all averred that they had left them sleeping in
the hut, and that they had no notion where they could have gone.

"Could the fellows, when probably as drunk as Pat, have fallen into the
torrent and been drowned!" exclaimed the lieutenant anxiously.

"Sure, they were as sober as judges," observed Dan, one of our men.
Then an idea seemed to strike him. "To be sure, your honour, they might
have gone fishing up the stream. That broth of a boy Barney might jist
have rolled in, and the long Dutchman have tried to haul him out, and
both have been carried away together. Ill luck to Roaring Water, if it
has swallowed up my countryman Barney."

I suspected, from the way in which Dan spoke, that he had no great
belief that such a catastrophe had occurred; in fact, knowing the fellow
pretty well, I thought it very prob